Rapid City Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

FASTEST SWIM IN MY AG BY OVER A MINUTE! I rock. They started you by your projected swim time. So this all depended on how accurately people predicted their times. Considering it was a meters pool which most people are not used to swimming in, and a SLOW one at that...I expected people's times to be not so accurate. I had the 10th fastest projected swim time, so I started 10th. I SWEAR I saw #9 pick up his packet and he was kinda cute. But when it was time for #9 to get in the water, he wasn't there. This was good for me, it meant I had CLEAN water in front of me!

I took off and immediately felt lots of drag. I was wearing my BT tri suit for the first time and I have only done wetsuit legal tri's lately. So I wasn't used to the feel of a tri suit in water. And this pool is SO freakin' slow and draggy. At the end of the first 100m I had to serpentine under the lane lines. I had never tried this before. :) In general it took me a couple of laps to get used to where to flip turn at the ends but it went okay. I passed my first person on the 2nd or 3rd lap. He was backstroking. So much for HIS projected swim time! I ended up having to split right between him and an oncoming swimmer. I didn't hit the oncoming swimmer but I got hit a lot by the backstroker. I think it was also the second or third lap where someone ran head-on into me. I was where I belonged so I don't know what happened. Either they couldn't swim straight or they were trying to pass someone and didn't clear their path. Whatever. I didn't stop to figure it out. I just kept plowing on.

Uneventful few laps. Up/down/up/down/etc. I wasn't really seeing my splits. Too much to think about while flipping to check out the watch. I think it was the fifth lap when I passed the other person I passed. This was a girl and she just wasn't swimming as fast as me. But I do know she was #7 so she started 1:30 ahead of me. I was hurting though. No warmup and swimming hard in a draggy pool...that was effort.

I knew there was a guy pretty close behind me that was probably going to pass me. He passed RIGHT before a turn and of COURSE he wasn't flipping so I had to pull up for a few seconds while he ducked under the lane. But...he wasn't going much faster than me, so for the last 100m I just latched onto his feet. Thanks for the lift!

He stopped at the ladder rather than go all the way to the wall (it was less than a 5' difference) so I took his lead and went straight up the ladder. In the future this might be something I should ask about. I didn't know if we had to go all the way to the wall to get out or not. It was a local tri. No one was going to care!



Warmup? I swam pretty hard and came out almost EXACTLY at my projected time (I projected 14:30). So, it went okay. My mom said a few people commented that I was fast.

Second fastest T1 in my AG. Second to the AG winner. FOURTH fastest OVERALL!!!!

Okay, I got a GREAT spot. RIGHT at the bike/run exit. So I ran across the parking lot, put my stuff on, and only had to walk 10 feet in my bike shoes. That is why I did not bother leaving the shoes on the bike. I just wore them. Hopped on my bike and I was OFF! I kinda dragged my feet the last 15 seconds to give my mom time to get over to take pictures. :)

Um, someone in my AG spent 14 minutes in transition according to the results. Really? I just CANNOT believe that.

Go faster....

It wound through a neighborhood to start. At the first major turn there were no volunteers directing traffic yet. The course was marked with orange arrows painted on the road and they were REALLY hard to see. So, basically I was hauling butt down a slight hill and saw the orange arrows pretty late. I slammed on the brakes and tried to turn but I was going too fast. I felt the back end start fishtailing. I did not want to crash so I stopped trying to turn and concentrated on keeping control of the bike and slowing down. I finally got slow enough to turn. I would find out later that I was not the only person this happened to!

Very shortly later we were on the straighr road. I forgot how big the hills were on this road. They were not HUGE, but significant. I was probably going up them around 12-13 miles per hour. I was trying to push hard since it is a sprint, but I probably could have pushed harder.

Halway up the second or third hill someone pulled up alongside me. It was Shalin. He chatted for a few seconds then asked me if he could have some of my drink! He did not have any bottles on his bike! So I handed it over and we rode side by side for a bit until he was done drinking. This was not a USAT sanctioned race but I could not help but think how many USAT rules that violated. :) Not to mention that he got to ride lighter by mooching my water! But that is what friends are for, right? It is all karma and it will come back!

The rest of the ride was more of the same. I only had about 3 people pass me and I passed a couple. When we came back through the neighborhood they finally had someone sitting at that corner. Traffic was low since it was a very early Sunday morning. Nothing significant really. The end was downhill so I had to slow down quite a bit to get my feet out of my shoes.

STATS from the Ergomo:
Entire workout (172 watts):
Duration: 39:15
Work: 404 kJ
TSS: 72.6 (intensity factor 1.054)
Norm Power: 190
VI: 1.11
Distance: 10.72 mi
Elevation Gain: 577 ft
Elevation Loss: 551 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 388 172 watts
Heart rate: 0 177 164 bpm
Cadence: 34 115 86 rpm
Speed: 1.9 33.8 16.4 mph

So the Ergomo had it a bit short...I think I agree. But the watts seem spot on.

Ride harder. This is where I started to lose time on my competitors.

Fourth fastest T2 in my AG. 24th overall. I guess I need to speed this one up! I ran through the transition area in my bare feet with my bike to my spot near the run exit. I had some trouble getting my socks on. And then when I picked up my race belt I saw half the clip still sitting on my towel. I had to spend 5 seconds getting the brain process going that I was not going to get it fixed fast and I would just have to tie it. Other than that delay, nothing seemed overly slow.

Go faster. How do most people get through here so fast? I think several of the folks who beat me were not wearing bike shoes.

I started out at a pretty slow pace. Waved at my mom and headed out. The first maybe mile was downhill. I was practically jogging. WTF? Finally when I got down to the bike path I remembered i was racing and started to go faster. But not before I got passed by at least three people. On thet outbound part two chicks passed me...boo! As I made the turn around I saw two other chicks who were not that far behind me. One ended up passing me. I definitely sped up the last two miles though. But I was not redlining by any means. I am too used to the long stuff. It is hard to make myself go at that LT level.

AHR = 170, Max = 181. So yeah, I was f'ing SANDBAGGING!!!!!

Run faster! Not let so many chicks pass me!

Stood around talking to Shalin, my mom, and other people. Drank some recoverite and ate some food. Waited for the awards which turned out to be a waste of time! They just read names! No actual hardware! GIPPED! We got GIPPED!


I did not rest up well the few days before this. Lack of training. I have not really ridden my bike or run much lately.


Apparently this race was MUCH more organized than last year. It was pretty decent. I mean, it had CHIP timing for 60 people! The events DID start on time. Other than the one bvike turn the course was well-marked. They said they would send out a survey and be open to suggestions so I will be sure to make some since I think I have done enough triathlons to have good suggestions!

I basically did this race to guarantee that I got to do a workout at least once while the parents were here. And I wanted them to watch me race, even if it was a sprint. Mom came, dad did not want to.

If my AG had been 25-29 like normal I would have won my AG. The two chicks ahead of me were both over 30.